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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, # 

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TO THE 

EXERCISES FOR WRITING, 



CONTAINED IN 



THE INSTITUTES 

OV 

ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 

DESIGNED FOR THE AID OF TEACHERS AND PRIVATE 
LEARNERS. 



BY GOOLD BROWN, 



Ol ttoxko) v6/j.ov to efloc Totova-i. 



V 



NE w-y ork: 

PUI.LISHED BY SAMUEL S. & WILLIAM WOOD, 

No. 261, Pearl-street. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, 

EY SAMUEL S. AND WILLIAM WOOD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. 






1. LTJDWIO, PBINIIS, 

72 Vesey-st., N. T, 



PREFACE. 



" The study of Grammar has been considered as an object of great importance by the 
wisest men in all ages." — Dr. Adam. 



That great improvement has been made in the manner of instructing youth in 
the principles of grammar, will not be doubted by any one acquainted with the books 
and the modes of teaching formerly employed for this purpose. In consequence of 
this improvement, the study of grammar, which was once prosecuted chiefly through 
the medium of the dead languages, and was regarded as the proper business of 
those only who were to be instructed in Latin and Greek, is now thought to be an 
appropriate exercise for children in elementary schools. And the sentiment is now 
generally admitted, that even those who are afterwards to learn other languages, 
may best acquire a knowledge of the common principles of speech from the gram-» 
mar of their vernacular tongue. This opinion appears to be confirmed by that expe- 
rience which is at once the most satisfactory proof of what is feasible, and the only 
proper test of what is useful. It must, however, be confessed, that an acquaintance 
with ancient and foreign literature is absolutely necessary for him who would be- 
come a thorough philologist or an accomplished scholar ; and that the Latin lan- 
guage, the source of many of the modern tongues of Europe, being remarkably 
regular in its inflections and systematic in its construction, is in itself the most 
complete exemplar of the structure of speech, and the best foundation for the study 
of grammar in general. But as the general principles of grammar are common to 
all languages, and as the only successful method of learning them, is, to commit 
to memory the definitions and rules which embrace them, it is reasonable to 
suppose that the language most intelligible to the learner, is the most suitable for 
the commencement of his grammatical studies. A competent knowledge of English 
grammar is in itself a valuable attainment, which is within the easy reach of many 
young persons whose situation in life debars them from the pursuit of general 
literature. 

The attention which has lately been given to the culture of the English language, 
by a few who have laboured purposely to improve it, and by many who, in various 
branches of knowledge, have made it the polished vehicle of the most interesting 
truths, has in a great measure redeemed it from that contempt in which it was for- 
merly held in the halls of learning ; but it does not yet appear to be sufficiently 
attended to, in the course of what is called a liberal education. Compared with 
other languages, the English exhibits both excellencies and defects ; but there are 
few, if any, to which it ought on the whole to be considered inferior. It is now 
scarcely necessary to urge, that our language is worthy to be assiduously studied by 
all who reside where it is spoken, and who have the means and the opportunity to 
become critically acquainted with it. To every such student, it is vastly more im- 
portant to be able to speak and write well in English, than to be distinguished for pro- 
ficiency in the learned languages, and yet ignorant of his own. Classical scholars 
are too often deficient in this respect.* And their neglect of so desirable an accom- 
plishment, is the more remarkable, and the more censurable, on account of the fa- 
cility with which those who are acquainted with the ancient languages, may attain 
to excellence in their English style. 

* " Will the greatest mastership in Greek and Latin, or [the] translating [of] these languages into 
English, avail for the purpose of acquiring an elegant English style? No— we know just the reverse 
from woful experience! And, as Mr. Locke and the Spectator observe, men who have threshed hard at 
Greek and Latin for ten or eleven years together, are very often deficient in their own language."— Pre 
Jact to tilt British Grammar, 8vo. 1784. 



IV PREPACK. 

Language is, in its own nature, but an imperfect instrument ; and even when 
tuned with the greatest skill, will often be found inadequate to convey the impression 
we would.* Yet, whatever may be its defects or abuses, it is almost the only medi- 
um for the communication of thought and the diffusion of knowledge. In oral dis- 
course the graces of elegance are more lively and attractive, but well-written books 
are the grand instructers of mankind ; the most enduring monuments of human 
greatness, and the proudest achievements of human intellect. Literature is impor- 
tant inasmuch as it is subservient to objects of the highest concern : religion and 
morality, liberty and government, fame and happiness, are alike interested in the 
cause of letters.t The uses of learning are seen in every thing that is not itself use- 
less. It cannot be overrated, but where it is perverted ; and whenever that occurs, 
the remedy is to be sought by opposing learning to learning, till the truth is 
manifest, and that which is reprehensible is made to appear so. To produce 
an able and elegant writer may require something more than a knowledge of 
grammar rules ; yet it is argument enough in favour of such rules, that 
without a knowledge of them no elegant and able writer is produced. Men of 
genius sometimes affect to despise the pettiness of all grammatical instructions; 
but this can bt no other than affectation, since the usage of the learned is confessed- 
ly the basis of such instructions, and several of the loftiest of their own rank ap- 
pear on the list of grammarians. Hence none can safely contemn the rules of this 
art, but those who have acquired such skill in it as to be able to frame better ones 
for themselves. 

But, however it may appear that the present state of English literature will bear 
a favourable comparison with that of any former period, and that our notion of a 
general improvement in grammatical knowledge is something more than a mere 
partiality for the learning of our own times ; there are still several circumstances on 
account of which the praise of our present methods of instruction is liable to some 
just abatement, and by which the progress and spread of such improvements are 
evidently retarded. Among these, is the want of uniformity and accuracy in our 
books and modes of teaching. Self-conceit and the rivalry of authorship have kept 
grammarians at variance from age to age ; and nothing can ever terminate their dis- 
putes, but the production and general adoption of some system which no man of infe- 
rior talents shall hope to be able to displace. But this is a case in which the public 
liberty of choice should by no means be abridged— a case in which that is most 
worthy to be chosen, which can best supply the means of choosing judiciously. 

The particular views and interests of individual.-; have given rise and local use to 
euch a multiplicity of meagre epitomes, and capricious modifications of those gram- 
matical treatises which have acquired some reputation; and these compends are 
severally adhered to by their advocates, with so little regard to taste and scholarship ; 
(of which they are, for the most part, but sorry specimens ;) that the general intro- 
duction of any one grammar, whatever may be its merits, is an event little to be ex- 
pected. This diversity is attended by many inconveniences. It subjects parents to 
useless expense, teachers to unnecessary trouble, and pupils to needless embarrass- 
ment. Such is the facility with which many who cannot write for themselves, can 
remodel the grammatical labours of others, and pass themoff under new and diver- 
sified form -, and so common has this species of book-making become, that he who 
labours most for the reai improvement of this humble department of literature— he 
who devotes himself with the greatest diligence and effect to the drudgery of " re- 
moving rubbish and clearing obstructions from the paths through which Learning 
and Genius press forward to conquest and glory,"|— has the least prospect of an 



* " The imperfections attending the only method by which nature enablei and directs us to communi- 
cate our thoughts to each ot er, are innumerable. Language is, in its very nature, inadequate, ambigu. 
ous, liable to abuse even fr. i negligeace, and so liable to it from design, that every man cau deceive and 
betray by it."— Bialer't Analogy. 

f It was a saying of pope Pius, II. tiiat common men should esteem learning as silver, noblemen 
value it as gold, and princes prize it as jewels. 

% Dr.Johnton. 



PREPACK. T 

adequate remuneration for his services, and the least hope of escaping the reproaches 
and cavils of the ignorant and the interested. 

But there is a still more discouraging abuse to which the industrious grammarian 
is peculiarly liable, and against which the laws ought to provide a more adequate 
security: this is the direct depredation of literary freebooters. What motive shall 
excite a man to long-continued diligence, where, from the nature of his undertaking 
success is always precarious, and where the praise of his ingenuity and the reward 
of his labour may be usurped with impunity ? This is an evil which is not likely to 
be much known or regarded, except by those who are immediately exposed to it? 
and whoever treats the subject with the greatest skill, him it will probably be 
thought the most profitable thus to rob. 

It is not expected that a grammar will be in all respects, or in all its parts, original ; 
and, because some portions of the work may be considered as common stock, the 
whole is the more liable to be usurped, with perhaps some petty changes of phrase- 
ology or position. The first thing which the intelligent examiner of a new grammar 
ought to ascertain, is, whence the substance of the book is derived. For a large 
portion of those which are now in use, are egregious plagiarisms ; and, i:i several 
instances, the entire volume has been silently taken from a single author, and pub- 
lished under a new name. And, what is still more surprising and monstrous, presi- 
dents, governors, senators, and judges, professors, doctors, cle~~vmen, and lawyers, 
a host of titled connoisseurs — with incredible facility, fend- their names, not only to 
works of inferior merit, but to the vilest thefts and the wildest absurdities, palmed off 
upon their own and the public credulity, tinder pretence of improvements. The 
man who thus prefixes his letter of recommendation to an ill-written book, publishes 
out of mere courtesy, a direct impeachment of his own scholarship or integrity. 
Yet, how often have we seen the honours of a high office, or ewnof a worthy name, 
prostituted to give a temporary or local currency to a book which it would disgrace 
any man of letters to quote ! With such encouragement, nonsense wrestles for tho 
seat of learning, exploded errors are republished as novelties, original writers are 
plundered by dunces, and men who understand nothing w^U, profess to teach all 
sciences. 

None will deny, that in many of the grammars now in use, there are numerous 
inaccuracies and deficiencies,* which cannot but impede the progress of general 
improvement in this branch of learning. These disadvantages and impediments can 
be obviated only by a concurrence of sentiment amongthe learned, founded on that 
candid discrimination which ought to characterize every teaeher, and which might 
be expected to produce some agreement in matters of criticism, among men whose 
lives are devoted to literature and the liberal pursuit of knowledge. 

The vain pretensions of several modern simplifiers, contrivers of machines, charts, 
tables, dialogues, vincula, ocular analyses, inductive exe.cises, and new theories, 
for the purpose of teaching grammar, may serve to deceive the ignorant, to amuse 
the visionary, and to excite the admiration of the credulous ; but none of these in- 
ventions has any favourable relation to the improvement mentioned above. The de- 
finitions and rules which constitute the doctrines of grammar, may be variously ex- 
pressed, arranged, illustrated, and appli' d ; and, in th ■ expression, arrangement, il- 
lustration, and application of them, there may be 100m for some amendment : but no 
contrivance can ever relieve the pupil from the necessity of committing them 
thoroughly to memory. The experience of all antiquity is a confirmation of this ; 
and the judicious teacher, though he will not shut liis eyes to a real improvement, 
will be cautious of renouncing the practical lessons of hoary experie'i- a for the futile 
notrons of a vain projector. 

It has unfortunately become fashionable, to represent this opinion as the result of 
mere prejudice, and to inveigh against the necessary labour of learing by heart the 
essential principles of grammar, as a useless and intolerable drudgery. And this 
popular notion is giving countenance to modes of teaching <\ell calculated to make 

* " Tbatall the grammars used in our different schools , public as well as priTale, .tre disgraced by errori 
or d«fecU, is a complaint as jujt as it is frequent and loud."— Dr. Wm. Bw^ma't Ei$ayt,p. 83. 

1* 



Vl PREFACE. 

superficial scholars. When those principles are properly defined, disposed, and ex- 
emplified, the labour of learning them is far less than has been represented ; and the 
habits of application induced by the usual method of studying grammar, are of the 
utmost importance to the learner. Experience shows that the task may be achieved 
. during the years of childhood ; and that, by an early habit of study, the memory is 
so improved as to render those exercises easy and familiar which, at a later period, 
would be found difficult and irksome. Some words will be learned before the ideas 
represented by them are fully comprehended, or the things spoken of are fully under- 
stood; but this seems necessarily to arise from the order of nature in the development 
of the mental faculties ; and an acquisition cannot be lightly esteemed, which has 
signally augmented and improved that faculty on which the pupil's future progress 
depends. 

But definitions and rules committed to memory, and not rendered familiar by prac- 
tice, will never enable any one to speak and write correctly. Grammar is a practi- 
cal art ; and every person may be esteemed a grammarian in exact proportion to the 
correctness and elegance of his diction But strict propriety of language cannot be 
attained without a thorough knowledge of the principles and rules of grammar ; and 
such a knowledge can never be communicated by instructions that are merely theo- 
retical. The utility of practical exercises, has long been admitted; and most of the 
grammars published within the last fifty years, contain both examples for parsing to 
illustrate their doctrines, and selections of faulty composition to .be corrected by the 
learner. Of these selections, Murray's is the most copious, and, in some respects, 
the most judicious. Several of the earlier ones are ridiculous jumbles of such errors 
as are never found in any other books, and are scarcely heard among the vulgar ; and 
many of the later ones are mere copies from Murray, published by persons who 
found it easier to avail themselves of his labours than to make selections of their 
own. 
From the advertisement prefixed to Murray's Key, it appears that his whole book 
f exercises was designed to be written out by the learner. And it is apprehended, 
that, by the unnecessary prolixity of many of his examples, he has rendered this 
task so tedious, that it is seldom performed in the manner he has prescribed. It was 
therefore thought that a series of exercises, equal in number and variety to Mur- 
ray's, but consisting of shorter examples, would considerably facilitate the practical 
application of the principles of grammar, and would be acceptable both to the teach- 
er and the learner. With this view, were the exercises in the Institutes of Eng- 
lish Grammar prepared. A slight inspection of the following pages, or of the Gram- 
mar itself, will show in what manner the design has been executed. 

It is manifest, that exercises either too easy or too difficult, must defeat their own 
purpose. It was therefore judged expedient, to divide the examples of false con- 
struction into two parts, and to place the greater number of them under the rules of 
syntax, to be corrected orally according to formules given. A Key to this portion of 
the false syntax, is published with the Grammar ; that the pupil, when he cannot 
ascertain the error for himself, may have access to the right construction, and be 
enabled clearly to state the proper correction, and the reason for it. The following 
Key being adapted to the exercises which are to be written out by the learner, should 
not be put into the hands of the schoolboy. It is designed merely to aid the teacher 
in correcting the written essays of his pupils, and to give the private learner the 
satisfaction of knowing when he is right. If the Grammar be used by any teacher 
who is not familiar with the subject, to him the Key will be indispensably necessary. 

GO OLD BROWN. 

Nbw-York, 1832. 



A KEY 

TO THE 

EXERCISES FOR WRITING, 

CONTAINED IN THE INSTITUTES 

OF 

ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



PART I. 

EXERCISES IN ORTHOGRAPHY. 

[ECF" Institutes of English Grammar, Part L] 

EXERCISE I.— CAPITALS. 

1. The pedant quoted Johnson's Dictionary of the English 
Language, Gregory's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 
Crabb's English Synonymes, Walker's Key to the Pronuncia- 
tion of Proper Names, Sheridan's Rhetorical Grammar, and 
The Diversions of Purley. 

2. Gratitude is a delightful emotion. The grateful heart 
at once performs its duty, and endears itself to others. 

3. What madness and folly, to deny the Great First 
Cause! Shall mortal man presume against his Maker? 
shall he not fear the Omnipotent? shall he not reverence the 
Everlasting One? — 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning 
of wisdom.' 

4. Xerxes the Great, Emperor of Persia, united the Medes, 
Persians, Bactrians, Lydians, Assyrians, Hyrcanians, and 
many other nations, in an expedition against Greece. 

5. I observed that, when the votaries of Religion were led 
aside, she commonly recalled them by her emissary Con- 
science, before Habit had time to enchain them. 

6. Hercules is said to have killed the Nemean lion, the 
Erymanthian boar, the Lernean serpent, and the Stymphalian 
birds. — The Christian religion has brought all mythologic sto- 
ries and Milesian fables into disrepute. 



8 



KEY TO THE EXERCISES 



7. I live as I did, I think as I did, I love you as I did ; but 
nil these are to no purpose ; the world will not live, think, or 
love, as I do. — wretched prince ! cruel reverse of for- 
tune ! father of Micipsa ' 

8. Are these thy views ? proceed, illustrious youth; 
And virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth ! 

9. Those who pretend to love peace, should remember this 
maxim: "It is the second blow that makes the battle." 

EXERCISE II— CAPITALS. 

' Time and I will challenge any other two,' said Philip. — 
1 Thus,' said Diogenes, * do I trample on the pride of Plato.' 
* True,' replied Plato ; 'but is it not with the greater pride of 
Diogenes ? ' 

The father, in a transport of joy, burst into the following 
words : * excellent Scipio ! Heaven has given thee more 
than human virtue! glorious leader! wondrous youth ! ' 

Epaminondas, the Theban general, was remarkable for his 
love of truth. He never told a lie, even in jest. 

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, " Say to thy brethren, * Do 
this — lade your beasts, and go to the land of Canaan.' " 

Who is she that with graceful steps and a lively air, trips 
over yonder plain ? Her name is Health : she is the daugh- 
ter of Exercise and Temperance. 

To the penitent sinner, a Mediator and Intercessor with the 
Sovereign of the universe, appear comfortable names. 

The murder of Abel, the curse and rejection of Cain, and 
the birth and adoption of Seth, are almost the only events re- 
lated of the immediate family of Adam, after his fall. 

On what foundation stands the warrior's pride, 
How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide. 

In every leaf that trembles to the breeze, 
I hear the voice of God among the trees. 

EXERCISE III.— SPELLING. 

1. Few know the value of a friend till they lose him. 
Good men pass by offences, and take no revenge. 
Hear patiently, if thou wouldst speak well. 

2. The business of tear is devastation and destruction. 
To err is human ; to forgive, divine. 

A bad speller should not pretend to scholarship. 

3. It often requires deep digging, to obtain pure water. 
Praise is most shunned by the praise-worthy. 

He that hoists too much sail, runs a risk of oversetting. 



IN ORTHOGRAPHY. 



4. Quarrels are more easily begun than ended. 
Contempt leaves a deeper scar than anger. 

Of all tame animals the flatterer is the most mischievous. 

5. Quacks are generally more venturesome than skilful. 
He that tvilfully injures others, is a bad citizen. 
Oddity may excite attention, but it cannot gain esteem. 

6. Good examples are very convincing teachers. 
Doubts should not excite contention, but inquiry. 
Obliging conduct procures deserved esteem. 

7. Wise men measure time by their improvement of it. 
Learn to estimate all things by their real usefulness. 
Encouragement increases with success. 

8. Nothing essential to happiness is unattainable. 
Vices, though near relations, are all at variance. 
Before thou deniest a favour, consider the request. 

9. Good-will is a more powerful motive than constraint. 
A well-spent day prepares us for sweet repose. 

The path of fame is altogether an uphill road. 

EXERCISE IV— SPELLING. 

1. He is tall enough who walks uprightly. 
Repetition makes small transgressions great. 
Religion regulates the will and affections. 

2. To carry a. full cup even, requires a steady hand. 
Idleness is the nest in which mischief lays its eggs. 
The whole journey of life is beset with foes. 

3. Peace of mind snould be preferred to bodily safety. 
A bad beginning is unfavourable to success. 

Very fruitful trees often need to be propped. 

4. None ever gained esteem by tattling and gossiping. 
Religion purines, fortifies, and tranquilizes the mind. 
They had all been closeted together a long time. 

5. Let every one he fully persuc.ded in his own mind. 
Indolence and listlessness are foes to happiness. 
Carelessness has occasioned many a wearisome step. 

6. In all thy undertakings, ponder the motive and the end. 
We cannot wrong others without injuring ourselves. 

A durable good cannot spring from an external cause. 

7. Duly appreciate and improve your privileges. 
To borrow of future time, is thriftless management. 
He who is truly a freeman is above mean compliances. 

8. Pitying friends cannot save us in a dying hour. 
Wisdom rescues the decays of age from aversion. 
Valleys are generally more fertile than hills. 

9. Cold numbness had quite bereft her of sense. 



10 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

A cascade, or waterfall, is a charming object in scenery. 
Nettles grow in the vineyard of the slothful. 
Tuition is lost on idlers and numskulls. 

EXERCISE V.— SPELLING. 

1. He that scoffs at the crooked, should beware of stooping. 
Pictures that resemble flowers, smell only of paint. 
Misdemeanors are the pioneers of gross vices. 

2. To remit a wrong, leaves the offender in debt. 
Superlative commendation is near akin to detraction. 
Piety admits not of excessive sorrow. 

3. You are safe in forgetting benefits you have conferred. 
He has run well who has outstripped his own errors. 
See that you have ballast proportionate to your rigging. 

4. The biases of prejudice often preclude convincement. 
Rather follow the wise than lead the foolish. 

To reason with the angry, is like whispering to the deaf. 
A bigoted judge needs no time for deliberation. 
The gods of this world have many worshipers. 

5. Crossness has more subjects than admirers. 
Fearlessness conquers where Blamelessness is armour-bearer. 

6. Many things are chiefly valued for their rarity. 
Vicious old age is hopeless and deplorable. 
Irreconcilable animosity is always blamable. 

7. Treachery lurks beneath a guileful tongue. 
Disobedience and mischief deserve chastisement. 

By self-examination, we discover the lodgements of sin. 
The passions often mislead the judgement. 

8. To be happy without holiness, is impossible. 
And all within were walks and alleys wide. 
Call imperfection what thou fanciest such. 
Without fire, chimneys are useless. 

9. The true philanthropist deserves a universal passport. 
Ridicule is generally but the froth of ill-nature. 

All misspent time will one day be regretted. 

EXERCISE VI.— SPELLING. 

Fiction may soften, without improving the heart. 
Affectation is a sprout that should be nipped in the bud. 
A covetous person is always in want. 
Fashion is comparable to an ignis-fatuus. 
Fair appearances sometimes cover foul purposes. 
Garnish not your commendations with flattery. 
Never utter a falsehood even for truth's sake. 
Medicines should be administered with caution. 



IN ORTHOGRAPHY. 11 

We have here no continuing city, no abiding rest. 
Many a trap is laid to ensnare the feet of youth. 
We are caught as sillily as the bird in the net. 
By deferring repentance, we accumulate sorrows. 
To preach to the dronish, is, to waste your words. 
We are often benefited by what we have dreaded. 
We may be successful, and yet disappointed. 
In rebuses, pictures are used to represent words. 
He is in great danger who parleys with conscience. 
Your men of forehead are magnificent in promises. 
A true friend is a most valuable acquisition. 
It is not a bad memory that forgets injuries. 
Weigh your subject well, before you speak positively. 
Difficulties are often increased by mismanagement. 
Diseases are more easily prevented than cured. 
Contrivers of mischief often entrap themselves. 
Corrupt speech indicates a distempered mind. 
Asseveration does not always remove doubt. 
Hypocrites are like wolves in sheeps' clothing. 
Ostentatious liberality is its own paymaster. 

EXERCISE VII.— SPELLING. 

A downhill road may be travelled with ease. 
Distempered fancy can swell a molehill to a mountain. 
Let your own unbiased judgement determine. 
A knave can often undersell his honest neighbours. 
Xenophanes preferred reputation to wealth. 
True politeness is the offspring of benevolence. 
Levellers are generally the dupes of designing men. 
Rewards are for those who have fulfilled their duty. 
Who trusts a hungry boy in a cupboard of dainties ? 
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. 
The liberal man ties his purse with a bow-knot. 
Double-dealers are seldom long in favour. 
The characters of the crossrow have wrought wonders. 
The plagiary is a. jackdaw decked with stolen plumes. 
All virtues are in agreement ; all vices, at variance. 
Personal liberty is every man's natural birthright. 
There, wrapped in clouds, the bluish hills ascend. 
The birds frame to thy song their cheerful cheruping. 
There figs, skydied, a purple hue disclose. 
Lysander goes twice a day to the chocolate-house. 
Years following years, steal something every day. 
The soul of the slothful does but drowse in his body. 
What think you of a clergyman in a soldier's dress ? 



12 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

Justice is here holding the steelyard for a balance. 

The humming-bird is sometimes no bigger than an humble-bee. 

The muskittoes will make you as spotted as a salmon-trout. 

Cruelty to animals is a malicious and low-lived vice. 

Absolute Necessity must sign their death-warrant. 

He who catches flies, emulates the gnat-snapper. 

r H\iQ frogs had long lived unmolested in a horse-pond. 

* These are villainous creatures,' says a bloclcheaded boy. 

The robin-red-breast till of late had rest ; 

And children sacred held a martin's nest. — Pope. 

Observation. — The exercises in spelling being designed to direct the learn- 
er's attention to the Rules, and show him what oi Urography is analogical, all the 
words which have any relation to the Rules, aie hero spelled according to them. 
In most of these words, custom confirms the analogy; in some, it wavers ; and, 
in a few, it inclines to anomaly. Deviatiors fnm both custom and analogy, are 
gross errors. When custom is doubtful or divided, analogy should be allowed to 
determine : as in alleys, valleys, rebuses biases, biased, bigoted, closeted, 
benefited, worshipers, gossiping, downhill, w terfall, abridgement, acknow- 
ledgement; and perhaps we may add, judgement , unbiased, villainous, tran- 
quilize, and misspent. Traveled ana levelers a:e analogical, and approved by 
some writers ; but custom doubles the last /. Muskitto is a diminutive from 
the Latin musca, a fly ; and is properly spelled in this manner in Todd's 
Johnson. 



4N ETYMOLOGY. * 3 

PART IT. 

EXERCISES IN ETYMOLOGY. 

[OCT Institutes of English Grammar, Part II.] 

EXERCISE 1.— ARTICLES. 

1. "Prefix the definite article," &c. thus— The path, the 
paths ; the loss, the losses ; the name, the names ; the page, 
the pages ; the want, the wants ; the doubt, the doubts ; the 
votary, the votaries. 

2. " Prefix the indefinite article," <fec. thus — An age, an 
error, an idea, an omen, an urn, an arch, a bird, a cage, a 
dream, an empire, a farm, a grain, a horse, an idol, a jay, a 
king, a lady, a man, « novice, arc opinion, a jjpny, a quail, a 
raven, a sample, a trade, an uncle, a vessel, a window, a 
youth, a zone, a whirlwind, a union, an onion, a unit, an ea- 
gle, a house, an honour, an hour, a herald, a habitation, an 
hospital, a harper, a harpoon, a ewer, an eye, a humour. 

3. " Insert the definite article," <fcc. thus — George the Se- 
cond — the fair appearance — part the first — reasons the most 
obvious — the good man — the wide circle — the man of honour 
— the man of the world — the old books — the common people 
— the same person — the smaller piece — the rich and the poor 
— the first and the last — all the time — the great excess — *Ae 
nine muses — how rich the reward — so small the number — all 
the ancient writers — in the nature of things — much the better 
course. 

4. " Insert the indefinite article," &c. thus — A new name 
— a very quick motion — an other sheep — such a power — 
what an instance — a great weight — such a worthy cause — too 
great a difference — a high honour — an humble station — a uni- 
versal law — what a strange event — so deep an interest — as 
firm a hope — so great a wit — a humorous story — such a per- 
son — a few dollars — a little reflection. 

EXERCISE II.— NOUNS. 

1. "Write the plural of the following nouns:" thus — 
Town, towns; country, countries; case, cases; pin, pins; 
needle, needles; harp, harps; pen, pens ; sex, sexes; rush, 
rushes; arch, arches ; marteh, marshes ; monarch, inonarchs ; 
blemish, blemishes; distich, distichs ; princess, princesses; 
gas, gasses ; bias, biases ; stigma, stigmas ; wo, ivoes ; 
grotto, grottoes ; folio, folios ;. punctilio, punctilios ; ally, allies; 
2 



14 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

duty, duties ; toy, toys; money , moneys ; entry ,' entries ; val- 
ley, valleys ; volley, volleys ; half, halves ; dwarf, dwarfs ; 
strife, strifes ; knife, knives ; roof, roofs ; muff, muffs ; staff, 
staves; chief, chiefs; sheaf, sheaves; mouse, mice ; penny, 
pence-, ox, oxen; foot, feet ; erratum, errata; axis, axes ; 
thesis, theses ; criterion, criteria ; bolus, boluses ; rebus, rebu- 
ses ; son-in-law, sons-in-law; pailful, pailfuls ; man-servant, 
man-servants. 

2. "Write the feminines corresponding to the following 
nouns : " thus — Earl, countess ; friar, nun ; stag, hind ; lord, 
lady ; duke, dutchess ; marquis, marchioness ; hero, heroine ; 
executor, executrix; nephew, niece; heir, heiress; actor, ac- 
tress ; enchanter, enchantress; hunter, huntress ; prince, 
princess; traitor, traitress ; lion, lioness; arbiter, arbitress ; 
tutor, tutoress ; songster, songstress ; abbot, abbess ; master, 
mistress ; uncle, aunt ; widower, widow ; son, daughter ; land- 
grave, landgravine. 

3. " Write the possessive case, singular, of the following 
nouns : " thus — Table, table's ; leaf, leaf's ; boy, boy's; torch, 
torch's; park, park's; porch, porch's ; portico, portico's; 
lynx, lynx's; calf, calf's; sheep, sheep' s ; wolf, wolf's; echo, 
echo's; folly, folly's ; cavern, cavern' s; father-in-law, father- 
in-law's ; court-martial, court-martial' s. 

4. " Write the possessive case, plural, of the following 
nouns : " thus — Priest, priests' ; tutor, tutors' ; scholar, scho- 
lars' ; mountain, mountains' ; city, cities' ; courtier, cour- 
tiers' ; judge, judges' ; citizen, citizens' ; woman, women's ; 
servant, servants' ; writer, writers' ; grandmother, grandmo- 
thers'. 

5. "Write the possessive case, both singular and plural, of 
the following nouns . " thus—Body, body's, bodies'; fancy, 
fancy' s, fancies' ; lady, lady's, ladies' ; attorney, attorney's, 
attorneys' ; negro, negro's, negroes' ; nuncio, nuncio's, nun- 
cios' ; life, life's, lives' ; brother, brother's, brothers' ; deer, 
deer's, deers' ; child, child's, children's ; wife, wife's, wives' ; 
goose, goose's, geese's ; beau, beau's, beaus' ; envoy, envoy's, 
envoys' ; distaff, distaff's, distaffs' ; colloquy, colloquy's, col- 
loquies' ; hero, hero's, heroes' ; thief, thief's, thieves' ; wretch, 
wretch's, wretches' . 

EXERCISE III.— ADJECTIVES. 

[(£/" The first two paragraphs of this exercise may be vari- 
ously written, and yet be correct. The words here given are 
merely a specimen : many others may be written with equal 
propriety.] 



IN ETYMOLOGY. 15 

1. " Annex suitable nouns to each of the following adjec- 
tives : " thus — Good news, great men, tall trees, wise people, 
strong drink, dark cellars, dangerous sports, dismal howlings, 
drowsy servants, twenty volumes, true stories, difficult ques- 
tions, pale countenance, livid streaks, ripe fruit, delicious fla- 
vour, stormy day, rainy night, convenient place, heavy load. 

2. *' Prefix a suitable adjective to each of the following 
nouns ; " thus — Some man, dutiful son, rich merchant, hard 
work, high fence, great fear, extreme poverty, beautiful pic- 
ture, young prince, tedious delay, painful suspense, wicked 
devices, destructive follies, strange actions. 

3. " Compare the following adjectives : " thus — Black, 
blacker, blackest; bright, brighter, brightest ; short, shorter, 
shortest; white, whiter, ichitest ; old, older, oldest; high, 
higher, highest ; wet, wetter, wettest; big, bigger, biggest; 
few, fewer, fewest ; lovely, lovelier, loveliest ; dry, drier, dri- 
est ; fat, fatter, fattest ; good, better, best; bad, worse, worst ; 
little, less, least ; much, wore, most; many, more, most ; far, 
farther, farthest. 

4. " Express the degrees of the following qualities by the 
comparative adverbs of increase : " thus — Delightful, more 
delightful, most delightful ; comfortable, more comfortable, 
most comfortable ; agreeable, more agreeable, most agreeable ; 
pleasant, more pleasant, most pleasant ; fortunate, more fortu- 
nate, most fortunate ; valuable, more valuable, most valuable ; 
wretched, more wretched, most wretched ; vivid, more vivid, 
most vivid ; timid, more timid, most timid ; poignant, more 
poignant, most poignant ; excellent, more excellent, most ex- 
cellent. 

b. " Express the degrees of the following qualities by the 
comparative adverbs of diminution : " thus — Objectionable, 
less objectionable, least objectionable ; formidable, less formi- 
dable, least formidable ; forcible, less forcible, least forcible ; 
comely, less comely, least comely ; pleasing, less pleasing, 
least pleasing ; obvious, less obvious, least obvious ; censur- 
able, less censurable, least censurable ; prudent, less prudent, 
least prudent. 

EXERCISE IV.— PRONOUNS. 

1. "Write the nominative plural of the following pro- 
nouns : " thus — I, we ; thou, ye or you ; he, they ; she, they ; 
it, they; who, who; which, which; what, what; that, that. 

2. "Write the declension of the following pronouns:" 
thus— 



16 



KEY TO THE EXFRCISES 



Singular, 
N. myself, 



Plural. 
N. ourselves, 
P. 



0. myself; 0. ourselves. 



N. thyself, 
P. 



N. yourselves, 
P. 



O. thyself; O. yourselves. 



Singular, 
N. herself, 

P. 

0. herself; 

N". itself* 
P. 



N. himself, 
P. 



N. themselves. 
P. 



0. himself; O. themselves, 



0. itself; 



N. 
P. 
0. 

N. 
P. 
0. 



Plural, 
themselves, 



themselves, 
themselves, 



N. whosoever, N 
P. whosesoever, P. 
O. whomsoever ; 



themselves. 

. whosoever, 

whosesoever, 
. whomsoever. 



3. " Write the following words in their customary form:" 
thus — Her's, hers; it's, its ; our's, ours ; yours', yours; 
their's, the irs ; who's, whose; meself, myself; hisself, him- 
self; theirselves, themselves. 

4. " Write the objective singular of all the simple pro- 
nouns : " thus — Me y thee, him, her, it — whom, which, wkaty 
that. 

5. ** Write the objective plural of all the simple pronouns : %f 
thus — Us, you, them, them, them — whom, which, what, that. 

EXERCISE V.— VERBS. 

1. "Write the four principal parts of each of the following 
verbs : " thus — Slip, slipped, slipping, slipped ; thrill, thrilled, 
thrilling, thrilled ; caress, caressed, caressing, caressed ; force, 
forced, forcing, forced; release, released, releasing, released ; 
crop, cropped, cropping, cropped ; try, tried, trying, tried ; die, 
died, dying, died ; obey, obeyed, obeying, obeyed ; delay, de- 
layed, delaying, delayed ; destroy, destroyed, destroying, des- 
troyed ; deny, denied, denying^ denied ; buy, bought, buying, 
bought; come, came, coming, come ; do, did, doing, done ; 
feed, fed, feeding, fed ; lie, lay, lyings lain ; say, said, saying, 
said ; huzza, huzzaed, huzzaing, huzzaed. 

2. " Write the following preterits in their appropriate form :" 
thus — Exprest, expressed ; stript, stripped ; learnt, learned ; 
dropt, dropped ; jumpt, jumped ; prest, pressed ; topt, topped ; 
whipt, whipped ; spoilt, spoiled ; propt, propped; fixt, fixed; 
staid, stayed ; past, passed ; crost, crossed ; stept, stepped ; 
distrest, distressed ; gusht, gushed ; confest, confessed ; snapt, 
snapped; blest, blessed; shipt, shipped; kist, kissed; dis- 
cust, discussed ; lackt, lacked. 

3. "Write the following verbs in the indicative mood, pre* 
sent tense, second person,, singular: " thus-r-Move, movest; 



IN ETYMOLOGY. 17 

strive, strivest ; please, pleasest ; reach, readiest ; confess, 
confessest ; fix, Jizest ; deny, deniest ; survive, survivcst; 
know, knowest ; go, goest ; outdo, outdocst ; close, closest ; 
lose, losest ; pursue, pursuest. 

4. " Write the following verbs in the indicative mood, pre- 
sent tense, singular : " thus — Leave, leaves ; seem, seems ; 
search, searches; impeach, impeaches ; fear, fears ; redress, 
redresses ; comply, complies ; bestow, bestows ; do, does ; woo, 
woos ; sue, sues ; view, views ; allure, allures; rely, relies ; 
beset, besets ; release, releases ; be, is ; bias, biases. 

5. "Write the following verbs in the subjunctive mood, pre- 
sent tense, in the three persons, singular : " thus — If! serve, 
if thou serve, if he serve ; and the rest in like manner, without 
variation. 

EXERCISE VI.— VERBS. 

1. " Write a synopsis of the first person singular of the ac- 
tive verb amuse, conjugated affirmatively : " thus — Ind. I 
amuse, I amused, I have amused, I had amused, I shall amuse, 
I shall have amused. Pot. I may amuse, I might amuse, I 
may have amused, I might have amused. Subj. If I amuse, 
If I amused. 

2. " Write a synopsis of the second person singular of the 
neuter verb sit, conjugated affirmatively in the solemn 
style : " thus — Ind. Thou sittest, Thou sattest, Thou hast sat, 
Thou hadst sat, Thou wilt sit, Thou wilt have sat. Pot. 
Thou mayst sit, Thou mightst sit, Thou mayst have sat, 
Thou mightst have sat. Subj. If thou sit, If thou sat. Imp. 
Sit thou, or Do thou sit. 

3. " Write a synopsis of the third person singular of the 
active verb speak, conjugated affirmatively in the compound 
form: " thus— Ind. He is speaking, He was speaking, He 
has been speaking, He had been speaking, He will be speak- 
ing, He will have been speaking. Pot. He may be speak- 
ing, He might be speaking, He may have been speaking, He 
might have been speaking. Subj. If he be speaking, if he 
were speaking. 

4. " Write a synopsis of the first person plural of the pas- 
sive verb be reduced, conjugated affirmatively : " thus — Ind. 
We are reduced, We were reduced, We have been reduced, 
We had been reduced, We shall be reduced, We shall have 
been reduced. Pot. We may be reduced, We might be re- 
duced, We may have been reduced, We might have been re- 
duced. Subj. If we be reduced, If we were reduced. 

5. " Write a synopsis of the second person plural of the 

2* 



18 « KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

active verb lose, conjugated negatively; " thus — Ind. Yoa 
do not lose, You did not lose, You have not lost, You had 
not lost, You will not lose, You will not have lost. Pot. You 
may not lose, You might not lose, You may not have lost, You 
might not have lost. Subj. If you lose not, If you lost not. 
Imp. Lose not, or Do not lose. 

6. " Write a synopsis of the third person plural of the neu* 
ter verb stand, conjugated interrogatively : " thus — Ind. Do 
they stand? Did they stand? Have they stood? Had they 
stood? Will they stand? Will they have stood? Pot. May 
they stand ? Might they stand ? May they have stood ? Might 
they have stood ? 

7. " Write a synopsis of the first person singular of the 
active verb derive, conjugated interrogatively and negative- 
ly : " thus — Ind. Do I not derive? Did I not derive ? Have 
I not derived ? Had I not derived ? Shall I not derive ? Shall 
I not have derived? Pot. May I not derive? Might I not 
derive ? May I not have derived ? Might I not have derived X 

EXERCISE VII.— PARTICIPLES. 

1. "Write the simple imperfect participles of the following 
verbs : " thus — Belong, belonging ; provoke, provoking ; de- 
grade, degrading ; impress, impressing ; fly, flying ; do, do- 
ing ; survey, surveying; vie, vying; coo, cooing; let, let- 
ting ; hit, hitting ; put, putting ; defer ,def erring ■■; differ, dif- 
fering ; remember, remembering. 

2. M Write the perfect participles of the following verbs : " 
thus — Turn, turned; burn, burned; learn, learned; deem, 
deemed; crowd, crowded; choose, chosen; draw, drawn; 
hear, heard; lend, lent; sweep, swept; tear, torn; thrust, 
thrust; steal, stolen ; write, written ; delay, delayed ; imply, 
implied ; exist, existed. 

3. " Write the pluperfect participles of the following verbs :" 
thus — Depend, having depended ; dare, having dared ; deny, 
having denied ; value, having valued; forsake, having forsa- 
ken ; bear, having burne ; set, having set; sit, having sat; 
lay, having laid ; mix, having mixed ; speak, having spoken ; 
sleep, having slept ; allot, having allotted. 

4. " Write the following participles in their appropriate 
form : " thus — Dipt, dipped ; deckt, decked ; markt, marked ; 
equipt, equipped; ingulft, ingulfed ; embarraLSt, embarrassed ; 
astonisht, astonished ; tost, tossed ; embost, embossed ; ab- 
sorpt, absorbed; attackt, attacked; gasht, gashed; soakt, 
soaked; hackt, hacked ; blest, blessed ; curst, cursed. 

5. " Write the regular participles which are now generally 



IN ETYMOLOGY. 19 

preferred to the following irregular ones : " thus — Clad, 
clothed ; graven, graved ; hoven, heaved ; hewn, hewed ; 
knelt, kneeled; leant, leaned; lit, lighted; mown, mowed; 
quit, quitted; riven, rived; sawn, sawed; sodden, seethed; 
shaven, shaved ; shorn, sheared ; sown, sowed ; strown, 
strowed ; swollen, swelled; thriven, thrived ; wrought, worked. 
6. " Write the irregular participles which are commonly 
preferred to the following regular ones : " thus — Bended, 
bent; builded, built ; catched, caught ; creeped, crept ; deal- 
ed, dealt ; digged, dug ; dreamed, dreamt; dwelled, dwelt; 
gilded, gilt ; girded, girt; hanged, hung; knitted, knit ; laded, 
laden ; meaned, meant ; reaved, reft ; shined, shone ; slitted, 
slit ; splitted, split ; stringed, strung ; strived, striven ; weeped, 
wept ; wonted, wont ; wringed, wrung. 

EXERCISE VIIL— ADVERBS, &c. 

1. " Compare the following abverbs : " thus — Soon, sooner, 
soonest; often, oftener, oftenest ; well, better, best; badly or 
ill, worse, worst ; little, less, least ; much, wore, most; far, far- 
ther, farthest ; forth, further, furthest. 

2. " Prefix the comparative adverbs of increase to each of 
the following adverbs : " thu*s — Purely, more purely, most pure- 
ly ; fairly, more fairly, most fairly ; sweetly, more sweetly, 
most sweetly; earnestly, mare earnestly, most earnestly ; pa- 
tiently, m ore patiently, most patiently ; completely, more com- 
pletely, most completely ; fortunately, more fortunately, most 
fortunately ; profitably, more profitably, most profitably. 

3. " Prefix the comparative adverbs of diminution to the 
following adverbs : " thus — Secretly, less secretly, least secret- 
ly ; slily, less slily, least slily ; liberally, less liberally, least 
liberally ; favourably, less favourably, least favourably ; pow- 
erfully, less powerfully, least powerfully. 

4. " Insert suitable conjunctions in place of the following 
dashes : " thus — Love and fidelity are inseparable. Beware 
of parties and factions. Do well, and boast not. Improve 
time as it flies. There would be few paupers, if no time were 
lost. Be not proud, for thou art human. I saw that it was 
necessary. Honesty is better than policy. Neither he nor I 
ean do it. It must be done either to-day or to-morrow. Take 
care lest thou fall. Though I should boast, yet am I nothing. 

5. " Insert suitable prepositions in place of the following 
dashes : " thus — Plead for the dumb. Qualify thyself for 
action by study. Think often on the worth o/time. Live in 
peace with all men. Keep within compass. Jest not on se- 
rious subjects. Take no part in slander. Guilt starts at its 



20 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

own shadow. Grudge not in giving. Go not to sleep in ma- 
lice. Debate not with temptation. Depend not on the stores 
of others. Contend not about trifles. Many fall in grasping 
after things beyond their reach. Be deaf to detraction. 

6. " Correct the following sentences, and adapt the inter- 
jections to the emotions expressed by the other words : ** 
thus — Alas! alas! I am undone. Heighho ! I am tired. 
Hush ! be still. Holla ! this way. Pshaw ! what nonsense ! 
Hey! I am delighted. Pugh! it is contemptible. O for 
that sympathetic glow ! Ha ! what withering phantoms glare I 



IN SYNTAX. 21 

PART III. 
EXERCISES IN SYNTAX. 

[CZ? Institutes of English Grammar, Part III.] 

EXERCISE I.— ARTICLES. 

Christianity claims a heavenly origin. 

A useless excellence is a contradiction in terms. 

It would have a happy influence on genius. 

Part not with an ojd friend for a new acquaintance. 

Justice eyes not the parties, but the cause. 

I found in him a friend, and not a mere promiser. 

These fathers lived in the fourth and the following century — 

Better : in the fourth and the fifth century — or, in the 
fourth and fifth centuries. 
The rich and the poor are seldom intimate. 
The Bible contains the Old and New Testaments — or, the Old 

and the New Testament. 
An elegant and a florid style are very different. 
Humility is a deep which no man can fathom. 
True cheerfulness is the privilege of innocence. 
Devotion is a refuge from human frailty. 
Duplicity and friendship are not congenial. 
Familiarity with the vicious fosters vice. 
Forced happiness is a solecism in terms. 
Favourites are generally the objects of envy. 
Equivocation is a mean and sneaking vice. 
He sent an other and rather more modest letter — 

Better : He sent another letter, which was rather more 
modest. 
Flatterers are put to flight by adversity. 
Obstinacy is unfavourable to the discovery of truth. 
Conic sections are a part of geometry. 
What is the proper meaning of Landgrave ? 
Sensuality is one kind of pleasure, such a one as it is. 
What sovereign assumes the title of Autocrat 1 
Believe me, the man is less a fool than knave. 
He is a much deeper deceiver than sufferer. 
Laziness is a greater thief than a pick-pocket. 
The heroes who then flourished, have passed away. 
The time which is to come, may not come to us. 

EXERCISE II.— NOUNS. 

A friend should bear a friend's infirmities. 
Deviations from rectitude are approaches to sin. 



22 KEY TO TflE EXERCISES 

Crafty persons often entrap themselves. 

Men's minds seem to be somewhat variously constituted. 

The great doctors, adepts in science, often disagree. 

The two men were ready to cut each other s throat. 

We went at the rate of five miles an hour. 

His income is a thousand pounds a year. 

Five bushels of wheat are worth forty shillings. 

Reading is one means of acquiring knowledge. 

The well is at least ten fathoms deep. 

I shall be a hundred miles off by that time. 

Wisdom's and Folly's votaries travel different roads. 

The true philanthropist is the friend of all mankind. 

He desires the happiness of the whole human race. 

The idler's and the spendthrift's fault are similar. 

A good man's words inflict no injury. 

Be not generous at other people's expense. 

True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings. 

Life's current holds its course, and never returns. 

Many assume Virtue's livery, who shun her service. 

I left the parcel at Richardson's, the boolcseller. 

The books are for sale at Samuel Wood and Sons'. 

Where shall we find friendship like David and Jonathan's? 

Acquiesce for the sake of peace and harmony. 

The moon's disk often appears larger than the sun's. 

Consult Sheridan's, Johnson's, and Walker's Dictionary. 

Such was the economy of my uncle's agent's wife. 

A frugal plenty marks the wise man's board. . . 

This mob, for honesty's sake, broke open all the prisons. 

Our sacks shall be a means to sack the city. 

Such was the economy of the wife of my uncle's agent. 

These emmets, how little they are in our eyes ! 

Children's minds may be easily overloaded. 

EXERCISE III.— ADJECTIVES. 

A palmistry at which these vermin are very dexterous. 
This kind of knaves I know. 

Vanity has more subjects than any other of the passions. 
The vain are delighted with new and fashionable dresses. 
So highly did they esteem these goods. 

Washington has been honoured more than any other Ame- 
rican. 
Which is the loftiest of the Asiatic mountains 1 
These ashes they were very careful to preserve. 
Is not she the youngest of the three sisters 1 
Could not some less noble plunder satisfy thee ? 



IN SYNTAX. 23 

I can assign a stronger and more satisfactory reason. 

Peter was older than any other of the twelve apostles — or, 
Peter was the oldest of the twelve apostles. 

Peace of mind is more easily lost than gained. 

Of these victuals he was always very fond. 

Man has more wants than any other animal. 

Of all practical rules this is the most complex. 

Is not French more fashionable than any other language ? 

YiCe never leads to honoured old age. 

Cloths of an inferior quality are more salable. 

This is found in no book published previously to mine. 

He turned away with the utmost contempt. 

Time glides swiftly and imperceptibly away. 

Of their ulterior measures I know nothing. 

My last three letters were never answered. 

Fortune may frown on the greatest (or, the most extraordi- 
nary) genius. 

It becomes a gentleman to speak correctly. 

The most lofty (or, the loftiest) mountain is Mont Blanc. 

If a man acts foolishly, is he to be esteemed wise? 

Drop your acquaintance with those bad boys. 

They sat silent and motionless an hour and a half. 

Quiet minds, like smooth water, reflect clearly. 

True faith, true policy, united ran ; 

That was but love of God, and this of man. 

EXERCISE IV.— PRONOUNS. 

He that presumes much, has much to fear. 

They best can bear reproof, who merit praise. 

A few pupils, older than 7, excited my emulation. 

Every man will find himself 'in the state of Adam. 

None are more rich than they who are content. 

Scotland and thou did in each other live. 

These trifles do not deserve our attention. 

Truth is ever to be preferred for its own sake. 

Thou art afraid — else, what ails thee ? 

It is not Lemuel, but God, that you have offended. 

All things that have life, aspire to God. 

So great was the multitude which followed him. 

He that (or who) would advance, should not look backwards, 

It was Sir Billy — which is another name for a fop. 

I take up the arguments in the order in which they stand. 

There is nothing, with respect to me, and such as /. 

Him that is bribed, the people will abhor. 

The day on which the accident happened, is not recorded. 



24 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

We know not whom to trust ; they who seem fair, are false. 

The reason/or lohich I told it, was this ; thou wast in danger. 

I did not know the precise time at ichich it occurred. 

Here he who asks the question, answers it. 

Who that beheld the outrage, could remain inactive 1 

This was the prison in which we were confined* 

I could not believe but that it was a reality. 

It was the boys, and not the dog, that broke the basin. 

An unprincipled junto are not nice about their means — or, is 

not nice about its means. 
The people forced their way, and demanded their rights. 
Avoid lightness and frivolity : they are allied to folly. 
Either wealth or power may ruin its possessor. 
It was Joseph, he whom Pharaoh promoted. 
Origen's mother hid his clothes, to prevent his going — or to 

prevent him from going. 
He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him. ] 
Him that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse. 
I have always thought you honest, till now. 
/ being but a boy, they took no notice of me. 
Them that receive me, I will richly reward. 
Had it been they, they would have stopped. 
Yain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate you. 
It was not 1, that gave you that answer. 
Between you and me, he is a greater thief than author. 
Any dunce can copy what you or i" shall write. 
You seem to forget whom you are talking to. 
Thou being a stranger, the child was afraid. 
This was the most remarkable event that occurred. 
Happy are they whose pleasure is their duty. 

EXERCISE Y.— VERBS. 

Where were you standing during the transaction 1 

Were you there when the pistol was fired ? 

Thou seest how little difference there is. 

If he has failed, it was not through my neglect. 

Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains. 

There were many reasons for not disturbing my repose. 

The train of brass artillery and other ordnance, is immense. 

Art thou the man that came from Judah 1 

What eye those long, long labyrinths dares explore 1 

Magnus and his friends were barbarously treated. 

The propriety of these restrictions, is unquestionable. 

And I am one that believes the doctrine. 

Thou wast he that led out and brought in Israel. 



IN SYNTAX. 25 

Beauty without virtue generally proves a snare. 

If thou meanst to advance, eye those before thee. 

A qualification for high offices, comes not of indolence. 

The desires of right reason are bounded by competency. 

Useless studies are nothing but a busy idleness. 

Are virtue, then, and piety the same 1 

So awful an admonition were these miraculous words. 

If the great body of the people think otherwise. 

A committee is a body that has only a delegated power. 

In peace of mind, consist our strength and happiness. 

There is no slander, where love and unity are maintained. 

His character, as well as his doctrines, was assailed. 

Proof, and not assertion, is what is required. 

Right reason and truth are always in unison. 

No pains nor cost icas spared to make it grand. 

Ignorance stupifies the mind, and is the source of many crimes. 

Then wander forth the sons 

Of Belial, flushed with insolence and wine. 
What you must chiefly rely on, are the attested facts. 
No axe or hammer has ever awakened an echo here. 
Did not she send, and give you this information 1 
Their honours are departing, and coming to an end. 
Neither wit, nor taste, nor learning, appears in it. 
Caligula set himself up for a deity. 
A tortoise requested the eagle to teach him to fly. 
1 0, that it were always spring !' said little Robert. 
I at first intended to arrange it in a new form. 
The gaoler supposed that the prisoners hadfled. 
Peter saw a vessel, as it were a great sheet. 
Peace and esteem are all that age can hope. 

Alas ! no wife or mother's care 
For him the milk or corn prepares — or, 
Alas ! no wife's or mother's care 
For him the milk or corn prepares. 

Thou bark that sailst with man ! 
Haste, haste to cleave the seas. 

EXERCISE VI.— PARTICIPLES. 

What dost thou mean by shaking thy head ? 
A good end warrants not the use of bad means. 
Be cautious in forming connexions. 
The worshiping of the two calves was still kept up. 
In reading his lecture, he was much embarrassed. 
This devoting of ourselves to God, must be habitual. 
3 



26 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

That tliey estimated the prize too highly, was evident — or, 

It wis evident that they estimated the prize too highly. 
He declared the project to be no less than a tempting of 

God — or, than to tempt God. 
Every deviation from virtue is an approach to vice. 
It is extremely foolish to boast of immoral achievements. 
It was the refusing of all communication with paganism. 
Our deepest knowledge is, to know ourselves — the knowing 

of ourselves — or, the knowledge of ourselves. 
He wilfully neglects the obtaining of unspeakable good. 
To retaliate injuries, is, to multiply offences. 
These things are certain : there is no denying of facts. 
Publicly to vindicate error, is, openly to adopt it — or, A pub- 
lic vindication of error is an open adoption of it. 
On his father's asking of him who it was, he answered, i \J 

Better : His father asking him — or, When his father asked 

him, &c. 
Thus shall we escape defeat and ruin. 
Unjust liberality is ostentatious pride. 
Wisdom teaches a just appreciation of all things. 
The procuring of these benefits, was a gratuitous act. 
To do good, disinterested good, is not our trade. 
Such a renouncing of the world — or, Such a renouncement 

of the world — or, Such a renunciation of the world, is a 

pernicious delusion. 
A free indulgence of the appetite impairs the intellect. 
The Acts mention PauVs preaching of Christ at Damascus — 

Better : The Acts mention that Paul preached Christ at 

Damascus. [Correct the next two examples in the same 

way.] 
A constant view of objects prevents our admiring of them — 

or, at them. 
We purpose to take that route when we go. 
What was the cause of the young woman's fainting ? 
I perceived somebody creeping through the fence. 
I was aware of their intending to arrest me. 
We saw some mischievous boys worrying a cat. 
To pursue fashion, is, to chase a bird on the wing. 
Great posi'iveness is no real proof of a stable mind. 
By establishing good laws, we secure our peace. 
Distinctness is important in the delivery of orations. 
He guarantied, that the permission which we demanded, should 

be granted. 
For the easier reading of the numbers in the table — Better: 

That the numbers in the table may be more easily read. 
Recovering, however, from the first surprise, we entered boldly. 



IN SYNTAX. 27 

EXERCISE VII.— ADVERBS, &c. 

Respect is often lost by the means used to obtain it. 
Such were the views of the ministry at that time — of that pe- 
riod — or, then existing. 
Raillery must be very nice not to offend. 
Ye know that it is an unlawful thing. 
Hence I infer that they were going thither. 
Quaint sayings are often long remembered. 
I cannot tell you whether this is the fact or not. 
Valleys are generally more fertile than mountains. 
A qualification for usefulness is acquired by study. 
Frequent transgression makes men slaves to sin. 
Let nothing ever induce you to utter a falsehood. 
The idle are, by necessary consequence, ignorant. 
The wind came about, so that we could make no way. 
Zealots are seldom distinguished ybr charity. 
Study is as necessary as instruction, and even more so. 
I never have been, and never shall be compensated. 
Humility seeks neither the first place nor the last word. 
He has never told me any thing more of the matter. 
These men ranked high among the nobility. 
Their bodies are so solid and hard, that you need not fear. 
Of her brother's political life previous to this event. 
Attainments easily made, are not often of much value. 
He has no other merit than that of a compiler. 
Venus appears uncommonly bright to-night. 
Men cannot be forced either into or out of true faith. 
To this man we may safely commit our cause. 
One crime cannot be a proper remedy for another. 
Venus is not quite so large as the Earth. 
It is thought, that makes what we read our own. 
Quagmires commonly have smooth surfaces. 
He was so much offended, that he would not speak to me. 
I have put my words into thy mouth. 
How wilt thou put thy trust in Egypt for chariots ? 

EXERCISE VIII.— PROMISCUOUS. 

In his father's reign, they were connected and joined. 

What is the Earth, and what are its dimensions 1 

He is a man a great deal heavier than I. 

The privilege was never denied [to~] the citizens. 

Thankful to Heaven that thou wast left behind. 

I have met with few who understood men as well as he — or, 

as thoroughly as he. 
He had then recently returned from the east victorious. 



28 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

He hoped that money would be given him. 

Laws may be, and frequently are made against drunken- 
ness — or, Laws may be made against drunkenness, and fre- 
quently are. 

He appeared in a human shape. 

I do not attempt to explain the mysteries of religion. 
Ere matter, time, or place, was known, 
Thou sway'dst these spacious realms alone. 

One of the wisest persons that have been among them. 

What is it but to reject all authority 1 

They advocate distinctions unworthy of any free state. 

It would not be felt, and it ought not to be felt. 

They who saw the disaster, were greatly alarmed. 

He knew none fitter to be their judge than himself. 

Record the name of every one present — or, the names of all 
present. 

We doubt not that we shall satisfy the impartial. 

But time and chance happen to them all. 

You were in hopes of succeeding to the inheritance. 

To make light of a small fault, is, to commit a greater. 

Judge not before you have heard the cause. 

Clear articulation is requisite in public speaking. 

God is the avenger of all breach of faith, and of all injustice: 
— or, God is the avenger of all injustice and all breach of 
faith. 

I had a letter begun, and nearly half written. 

It is better to be suspected than to be guilty. 

Declare the past and the present state of things. 

To insult the afflicted is impious and barbarous. 

Goodness, and not greatness, leads to happiness. 

It is pride that whispers, ■ What will they think of me V 

In judging of others, we should exercise charity. 

Zanies are willing to befool themselves, to please fools. 

Questions are more easily proposed, than rightly answered. 

He forms his schemes the flood of vice to stem, 
But to preach Jesus is not one of them. 

EXERCISE IX.—PROMISCUOUS. 

The property of the rebels was confiscated. 
He was extremely covetous in all his dealings. 
There were no fewer than thirty islands. 
The plot was the more easily detected. 
Of all the books mine has the fewest blots. 
Whom does the house belong to? — or, To whom does the 
house belong ? 



IN SYNTAX. 29 

Is this the person who you say was present ? 

Knowledge is to be acquired only by application. 

Policy often prevails over force. 

These men were seen to enter the house in the night. 

These works are Cicero's, the most eloquent of men. 

Thomas has bought a large bay horse* 

Your gold and silver are cankered. 

Now abide faith, hope, and charity. 

And, he destroyed, all this will follow. 

There is no need of your assistance. 

Whom our fathers would not obey. 

Where can we find such a one as this 1 

They set out early on their journey. 

Philosophers have often mistaken the source of happiness. 

The books are as old as tradition, and perhaps older. 

This chapter is divided into sections. 

I shall treat you as I have treated them. 

A prophet mightier than he. 

Neither he nor his brother is capable of it. 

Richelieu profited by every circumstance. 

What was the cause of the girl's- screaming ? 

Let him and me have half of them. 

I wrote to the captain, and cautioned him against it. 

Nothing is more lovely than virtue. 

Him that is diligent, you should commend. 

They ride faster than we. 

Which of those grammars do you like best ?' 

Neither of these is the meaning intended. 

Did you understand whom I was speaking of? — or, of whom I 

was speaking ? 
Whosoever of you will be chief, shall be servant of all. 
Remember what thou wast, and be humble. 

Was I deceived ? or did a sable cloud 
Turn forth its silver lining on the night ? 

EXERCISE X.— PROMISCUOUS. 

Changed to a worse shape thou canst not be. 

For him through hostile camps I bend my way, 
For him thus prostrate at thy feet I lie. 

Thus oft by mariners are shown 
Earl Godwin's castles overflowed — or, 
Thus oft by mariners are show'd 
Earl Godwin's castles overflowed. 
3* 



30 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

]S T o civil broils have, since his death arisen. 

IS T or thou that jlingst me flound'ring from thy back. 

Whom should I see but the doctor! 

That which once was thou. 

To wish him to wrestle with affection. 
So much she fears for William's life, 
That Mary's fate she dares not mourn. 

Phalaris, who was so much older than she. 

They would have given him such satisfaction in other parti- 
culars, that a full and happy peace must have ensued. 

The woman whom we saw, is very amiable. 

The first three classes have read. 

A union in that which is permanent. 

Among all classes of people self-interest prevails. 

Such conduct is a disgrace to their profession. 

His education has been much neglected. 

There is no other bridge than the one we saw. 

He went and lay doivn to sleep. 

Who do men say that I am 1 

Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses 
sprinkle them towards the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 

In eulogizing the dead, he slandered the living. 

If a dog give both the first turn and the last, he shall win. 

Neither the virtuous nor the vicious are exempt from trials. 

He spoke as if he were in a passion. 

Let him take heed lest he fail. 

We have all swerved jfrom the path of duty. 

Neither can I agree with him. 

He wrote both sermons and plays. 

If a man say, ' I love God,' and hate his brother, he is a liar. 

He long ago forsook that party. 

It was proved to be she that opened the letter. 

Is not this the same man that we met before ? 

I forego my claim for the sake of peace. 

For thou art a girl as much brighter than she, 
As she was a poet sublimer than /. 

EXERCISE XL— PROMISCUOUS. 

There remain two points to be settled. 

I could not avoid the frequent use of it. 

The Athenians were naturally obliging and agreeable ; they 

were cheerful among themselves, and humane to their infe« 

riors. 
I hope it is not J thou art displeased with. 
I never before saw so large trees — or, trees so large. 



IN SYNTAX. 31 

My paper is Ulysses's bow, in which every man of wit and 

learning may try his strength. 

'Twas thou, whom once Stagyra's grove 
Oft with her sage allur'd to rove. 
I could not observe by what gradations other men proceeded 

in acquainting themselves with truth. 
I will show you the way in which it is done. 
To imprint, if it signifies any thing, is nothing else than to 

make certain truths perceived — or, to cause certain truths to 

be perceived. 
This arose from the young man's associating with bad 

people. 
He that never thinks, never can be wise. 
It was John the Baptist's head that was cut off. 
The Jews are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's posterity. 
Two architects were once candidates for building a certain 

temple at Athens. 
This treatise is extremely elaborate. 
They descending, the ladder fell. 

The scaling ladder of sugared words, is set against them. 
One or both were there. 
What sort of animal is that ? 
These' things should never be separated. 
His excuse was admitted by his master. 
It is not I that he is engaged with. 
I intended to reward him according to his merits. 
They would sooner become proficients in Latin. 
There are many different opinions concerning it. 
There are many in town richer than she. 
Let you and me (i. e. us) be as little at variance as possible. 
A coalman, by waiting one of these gentlemen, saved him 

from ten years'' imprisonment. 
If a man's temper were at his own disposal, he would not 

choose to be of either of these parties. 

The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds 
Attest their joy, that hill and valley ring. 

EXERCISE XII.— PROMISCUOUS. 

But we of the nations beg leave to differ from them. 
This is so easy and trivial, that it is a shame to mention it. 
You were once quite blind ; you saw neither your disease nor 
your remedy. 

Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops 

Ten thousand fathoms deep. 
The properties of the mirror depend on reflected light. 



32 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

Were you present at the last meeting 1 

Hence have arisen much stiffness and affectation. 

The nation is powerful both by sea and land. 

That set of books was a valuable present. 

The box contained forty pieces of muslin. 

She is much the tallest of the three. 

They are both remarkably tall men. 

A man's manners may be pleasing* whose morals are bad. 

True politeness has its seat in the heart. 

He presented him an humble petition. 

I do not intend to turn critic on, this occasion. 

At first sight, we took it to be them. 

The certificate was written on parchment 

I have often swum across the river. 

I wrote four long letters yesterday. 

I expected tasee yon last week, but I was disappointed. 

We are beset by dangers on all sides. 

My father and he were very intimate.. 

Unless he act prudently, he will, not succeed, 

It was no sooner said than done. 

Let neither partiality nor prejudice appear. 

The obligation had ceased long before. 

How exquisitely is all this performed in Greek ! 

Who, when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of 

Micah, lodged there 1 
I prevailed on your father to consent. 
Always act as justice and honour require. 
They that transgress the rules* will be punished:. 
With him are wisdom and strength. 
My conductor answered, that it was he. 

Be thou, lovely isle ! forever true 

To him who more than faithful was to thee — oSf. 

Thou lovely isle ! forever faithful be 

To him who more than faithful was to thee. 

The joys of love, are they not doubly yours, 

Ye poor ! whose health,, whose spirits ne'er decline ? — or, 

The joys of love, are they not doubly yours, 

Ye poor ! whose health to latest life endures ? 

EXERCISE XIII PROMISCUOUS. 

Having once suffered the disgrace, they feel it no longer. 
The meanness or the sin will scarcely be a dissuasive. 
Both temper and distemper consist of contraries. 
Which is the cause, the writer's or the reader's vanity ? 



IN SYNTAX. 33 

The commission of generalissimo was also given him. 
The queen's kindred are styled gentlefolks. 
They agree as to the fact, but they differ in assigning reasons. 
Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, are now perished — 

or, have now perished. 
The inquiry is worthy of the attention of every scholar. 
Young twigs are more easily bent than boughs. 
It is not improbable that there are other attractive powers — or, 

It is not improbable that there are powers more attractive. 
By this means a universal ferment was excited. 
"Who were utterly unable to pronounce some letters, and who 

pronounced others very indistinctly. 
All vessels on board of which any person has been sick or has 

died, perform quarantine. 
Severus forbid his subjects to change their religion for the 

Christian or the Jewish. 
Magnus, with four thousand of his supposed accomplices, was 

put to death without trial. 
Art not thou that Egyptian who before these days made an 

uproar, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men 

that were murderers ? 
An attempt to deceive children into instruction of this kind, 

is only a deceiving of ourselves. 
There came a woman, having an alabaster box of ointment of 

spikenard, very precious ; and she brake the box, and poured 

the ointment on his head. 
My essays, of all my works, are the most current. 
We would suggest the importance of every member's using of 

his individual influence. 

Thy sumptuous buildings, and thy wife's attire, 
Have cost a mass of public treasure. 

EXERCISE XIV.— PROMISCUOUS. 

These people who know not the law, are cursed. 
The iniquity of the people shall be forgiven them. 
The favours which were promised them, having been denied. 
Rosaline, this favour thou shalt wear ; 
Hold, take thou this, my sweet, and give me thine. 
Rely not on the fidelity of any man who is unfaithful to God. 
The rules are quite as concise as before, and they are more 

clear. 
For they all knew that his father was a Greek. 
Thrice was the crown offered to Caesar. 
For a mine undiscovered, neither the owner of the ground, nor 

any body else, is ever the richer. 



34 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

Death may be sudden to him, though it come by ever so slow 
degrees. 

A brute or a man, when he is alive, is a very different thing 
from what he is, when dead. 

I have known the mere confession of inability to become the 
occasion of confirmed impotence. 

I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. 

If so much power, wisdom, goodness, and magnificence, are 
displayed in the material creation, which is the least consid- 
erable part of the universe ; how great, how wise, how good 
must he be, who made and who governs the whole ! 

A good poet no sooner communicates his works, than it is 
imagined he is a vain young creature, given up to the am- 
bition of fame. 

This was a tax upon himself for not executing the laws. 

my people, that dwell in Zion ! be not afraid. 

As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd, 
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd or not. 

His wrath, which one day will destroy you both. 

I know thee not — nor ever saw, till now, 
Sight so detestable as he and thou — or, 

(to avoid the rhyme, the verse being blank,) 

I know thee not — nor ever saw, till now, 
Sight so destable as thou and he. 

The time at which to come, at which to go, 
To sing, or cease to sing, we never know, 



IN PROSODY. 35 

PART IV. 
EXERCISES IN PROSODY. 

[ §CJ & Institutes of English Grammar, Part IV.] 

EXERCISE I.— PUNCTUATION. 

THE COMMA. 

" Copy the following sentences, and insert the comma where 
it is requisite. '' 

RULE I. SIMPLE SENTENCES. 

The dogmatist's assurance is paramount to argument. 
The whole course of his argumentation comes to nothing 
The fieldmouse builds her garner under ground. 

Ex. The first principles of almost all sciences, are few. 
What he gave me to publish, was but a small part. 
To remain insensible to such provocation, is apathy. 
Minds ashamed of poverty, would be proud of affluence. 

RULE II. SIMPLE MEMBERS. 

I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. 
They are gone, but the remembrance of them is sweet. 
He has passed, it is likely, through varieties of fortune. 
The mind, though free, has a governor within itself. 
They, I doubt not, oppose the bill on public principles. 
Be silent, be grateful, and adore. 

He is an adept in language, who always speaks the truth. 
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. 

Ex. 1. Hobbes believed the eternal truths which he opposed. 
He that has far to go, should not hurry. * 

Feeble are all pleasures in which the heart has no share. 

Ex. 2. A good name is better than' precious ointment. 
Thinkst thou that duty shall have dread to speak 1 
The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns. 

RULE III. MORE THAN TWO WORDS. 

The city, army, court, espouse my cause. 

Wars, pestilences, and diseases, are terrible instructers. 

Walk daily in a pleasant, airy, and umbrageous garden. 

Wit, spirits, faculties, but make it worse. 

Men, wives, and children, stare, cry out, and run. 



36 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

RULE IV. ONLY TWO WORDS. 

Hope and fear are essentials in religion. 
Praise and adoration are perfective of our souls. 
We know bodies and their properties most perfectly. 
Satisfy yourselves with what is rational and attainable. 

Ex. 1. God will rather look to the inward motions of the 

mind, than to the outward form of the body. 
Gentleness is unassuming in opinion, and temperate in zeal. 

Ex. 2. He has experienced prosperity, and adversity. 
All sin essentially is, and must be, mortal. 

Ex. 3. One person is chosen chairman, or moderator. 
Duration, or time, is measured by motion. 
The governor, or viceroy, is chosen annually. 

Ex. 4. Reflection, reason, still the ties improve. 
His neat, plain parlour wants our modern style. 

RULE V. WORDS IN PAIRS. 

I inquired and rejected, consulted and deliberated. 
Seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day 
and night, shall not cease. 

EXERCISE II.— PUNCTUATION. 

« Copy the following sentences, and insert the comma where 
it is requisite." 

RULE VI. WORDS ABSOLUTE. 

The night being dark, they did not proceed. 

There being no other coach, we had no alternative. 

Remember, my son, that human life is the journey of a day. 

All circumstances considered, it seems right. 

He that overcometh, to him will I give power. 

Your land, strangers devour it in your presence. 

Ah ! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity 

With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay ; 

Be smooth, ye rocks ; ye rapid floods, give way ? — Pope. 

RULE VII. WORDS IN APPOSITION. 

Now Philomel, sweet songstress, charms the night. 
>Tis chanticleer, the shepherd's clock, announcing day. 
The evening star, love's harbinger, appears. 
The queen-of-night, fair Dian, smiles serene. 
There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah. 
Our whole company, man by man, ventured down. 
As a work of wit, the Dunciad has few equals. 



IN PROSODY. 37 

In the same temple, the resounding wood, 

All vocal beings hymn'd their equal God. — Pope. 

Ex. 1. The last king of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus. 
Bossuet highly eulogizes Maria Theresa of Austria. 

Ex. 2. For he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith. 
Remember the example of the patriarch Joseph. 

Ex. 3. I wisdom dwell with prudence. 
Ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. 
I tell you that which you yourselves do know. 
Ex. 4. I crown thee king of intimate delights. 
I count the world a stranger for thy sake. 
And this makes friends such miracles below. 
God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree. 
Grace makes the slave a freeman. 

RULE VIII. ADJECTIVES. 

Deaf with the noise, I took my hasty flight. 

Him, piteous of his youth, soft disengage. 

I play'd a while, obedient to the fair. 

Love, free as air, spreads his light wings, and flies. 

Then, active still and unconfin'd, his mind 
Explores the vast extent of ages past. 

But there is yet a liberty, unsung 

By poets, and by senators unprais'd. — Cowper. 

Ex. I will marry a wife beautiful as the Houries. 
He was a man able to speak upon doubtful questions. 
These are the persons anxious for the change. 
Are they men worthy of confidence and support ? 

RUXE IX. — FINITE VERBS. 

Poverty wants some > things — avarice, all things. 

Honesty has one face — flattery, two. 

One king is too soft and easy — another, too fiery. 

Mankind's esteem they court — and he, his own : 

Theirs, the wild chase of false felicities ; 

His, the compos'd possession of the true. — Young. 

EXERCISE III— PUNCTUATION. 

" Copy the following sentences, and insert the comma where 
it is requisite." 

RULE X. INFINITIVES. 

My desire is, to live in peace. 

The great difficulty was, to compel them to pay their debts. 
4 



38 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

To strengthen our virtue, God bids us trust in h ; mr, 
I made no bargain with you, to live always drudging. 
To sum up all, her tongue confessed the shrew. 
To proceed, my own adventure was still more laughable. 

We come not with design of wasteful prey, 
To drive the country, force the swains away. 

RULE XI. PARTICIPLES. 

Having given this answer, he departed. 

Some, sunk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain. 

Eas'd of her load, subjection grows more light. 

Death still draws nearer, never seeming near. 

He lies full low, gored with wounds, and weltering in his blood. 

Kind is fell Lucifer, compar'd to thee. 

Man, considered in himself, is helpless and wretched. 

Like scattered down, by howling Eurus blown. 

He, with wide nostrils snorting, skims the wave. 

Youth is, properly speaking, introductory to manhood. 

Ex. He kept his eye fixed upon the country before him. 
They have their part assigned them to act. 
Years will not repair the injuries done by him. 

RULES XII. ADVERBS. 

Yes, we both were philosophers. 

However, Providence saw fit to cross our design. 

Besides, I know that the eye of the public is upon me. 

The fact, certainly, is much otherwise. 

For nothing, surely, can be more inconsistent. 

RULE XIII. CONJUNCTIONS. 

For, in such retirement, the soul is strengthened. 
It engages our desires ; and, in some degree, satisfies them. 
But, of every Christian virtue, piety is an essential part. 
The English verb is variable ; as, love, lovest, loves. 

RULE XIV. PREPOSITIONS. 

In a word, charity is the soul of social life. 
By the bowstring, I can repress violence and fraud. 
Some, by being too artful, forfeit the reputation of probity. 
With regard to morality, I was not indifferent. 

RULE XV. INTERJECTIONS. 

Lo, Earth receives him from the bending skies ! 
Behold, I am against thee, inhabitant of the valley ! 



IN PROSODY, 39 

RULE XVI. WORDS REPEATED. 

I would never consent, never, never, never. 
His teeth did chatter, chatter, chatter -still. 
Come, come, come, come — to bed, to bed, to bed. 

RULE XVII. DEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. 

He cried, " Cause every man to go out from me.' 
* Almet,' said he, ' remember what thou hast seen.' 
I answered, ' Mock not thy servant, who is but a worm before 
thee.' 

EXERCISE IV.— PUNCTUATION. 

THE SEMICOLON. 

1. " Copy the following sentences, and insert the comma 
and the semicolon where they are requisite." 

RULE I. COMPOUND MEMBERS. 

' Man is weak,' answered his companion ; ' knowledge is more 

than equivalent to force.' — Johnson. 
To judge rightly of the present, we must oppose it to the past ; 

for all judgement is comparative, and of the future nothing 

can be known. — Id. 
' Content is natural wealth,' says Socrates ; to which I shall add, 

1 luxury is artificial poverty.' — Addison. 

Converse and love mankind might strongly draw ; 
When love was liberty, and nature, law. — Pope. 

RULE II. SIMPLE MEMBERS. 

Be wise to-day ; 'tis madness to defer. 

The present all their care ; the futuie, his. 

Wit makes an enterpriser ; sense, a man. 

Ask thought for joy ; grow rich, and hoard within. — Young. 

Song soothes our pains ; and age has pains to soothe. 
Here, an enemy encounters ; there, a rival supplants him. 
Our answer to their reasons, is, No ; to their scoffs, nothing. 

RULE III. APPOSITION, &C. 

In Latin, there are six cases ; namely, the nominative, the 

genitive, the dative, the accusative, the vocative, and the 

ablative. 
Most English nouns form the plural by adding s : as, boy, boys ; 

nation, nations ; king, kings ; bay, bays. 
Bodies are such as are endued with a vegetable soul, as plants ; 

a sensitive soul, as animals ; or a rational soul, as the body 

of man. 



40 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

THE COLON. 

2. " Copy the following sentences, and insert the comma, the 
semicolon, and the colon, where they are requisite." 

RULE I. — ADDITIONAL REMARKS. 

Death wounds to cure : we fall, we rise, we reign! 
Bliss ! — there is none but unprecarious bliss : 
That is the gem ; sell all, and purchase that. — Young. 

Beware of usurpation : God is the judge of all. 

RULE II. GREATER PAUSES. 

I have the world here before me ; I will review it at leisure : 
surely, happiness is somewhere to be found. — Dr. Johnson, 

A melancholy enthusiast courts persecution ; and, when he 
cannot obtain it, afflicts himself with absurd penances : 
but the holiness of St. Paul consisted in the simplicity of a 
pious life. 

Observe his awful portrait, and admire ; 

Nor stop at wonder : imitate, and live. — Young. 

RULE III. INDEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. 

Such is our Lord's injunction : " Watch and pray." 

He died, praying for his persecutors : " Father, forgive them ; 

they know not what they do." 
On his cane was inscribed this motto : " Festina lente. v 

THE PERIOD. 

3. " Copy the following sentences, and insert the comma, the 
semicolon, the colon, and the period, where they are requisite, 

RULE I. DISTINCT SENTENCES. 

Then appeared the sea and the dry land. The mountains rose, 
and the rivers flowed. The sun and moon began their 
course in the skies. Herbs and plants clothed the ground. 
The air, the earth, and the waters, were stored with their 
respective inhabitants. At last, man was made in the image 
of God. 

In general, those parents have most reverence who most de- 
serve it ; for he that lives well, cannot be despised. 

RULE It. ALLIED SENTENCES. 

Civil accomplishments frequently give rise to fame. But a 
distinction is to be made between fame and true honour. 
The statesman, the orator, or the poet, may be famous ; 
while yet the man himself is far from being honoured. — Blair. 



IN PROSODY. 41 

RULE III. ABBREVIATIONS. 

Glass was invented in England, by Benalt, a monk, A.D. 

664. 
The Roman era U. C. commenced A. C. 753 years. 
Here is the Literary Life of S. T. Coleridge, Esq. 

EXERCISE V.— PUNCTUATION. 
THE DASH. 

1. '« Copy the following sentences, and insert the dash, and 
such other points as are necessary," 

RULE I. ABRUPT PAUSES. 

You say famous very often ; and I don't know exactly what 
it means — a famous uniform— -famous doings. — What does 
famous mean? — M. Edgeworitts Frank. 

0, why, famous means — Now don't you know what famous 

means 1 — It means It is a word that people say — It is 

the fashion to say it — it means — it means — famous. — lb. 

RULE II. EMPHATIC PAUSES. 

But this life is not all. There is — there is, full surely, an- 
other state abiding us. And, if there is — what is thy pros- 
pect, remorseless obdurate ! — Thou shalt hear — (it 
would be thy wisdom to think thou now hearest — ) the 
sound of that trumpet which shall awake the dead ! — Re- 
turn — ! yet return to the Father of mercies, and live ! 

The future pleases — Why ? The present pains. — 

« But that's a secret' — Yes — which all men know. — Young. 

THE NOTE OF INTERROGATION. 

2. " Copy the following sentences, and insert the note or 
interrogation, and such other points as are necessary. 

RULE I. QUESTIONS DIRECT. 

Does Nature bear a tyrant's breast 1 

Is she the friend of stern control] 
Wears she the despot's purple vest 1 

Or fetters she the free-born soul 1 — Langhorne. 

W T hy should a man whose blood is warm within, 
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster ? — Shakspcare. 

Who art thou, courteous stranger ? and from whence I 

Why roam thy steps, to this abandoned dale ? 
4* 



42 KEY TO THE EXERCISES 

RULE II. QUESTIONS UNITED. 

Who bid the stork, Columbus-like, explore 

Heav'ns not his own, and worlds unknown before ? 

"Who calls the council, states the certain day, 

Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way? — Pope. 

RULE III. QUESTIONS INDIRECT. 

Ask of thy mother Earth, why oaks are made 
Taller and stronger than the weeds they shade. — Id. 

They asked me who I was, and whither I was going. 
THE NOTE OF EXCLAMATION. 

3. " Copy the following sentences and insert the note of 
exclamation, and such other points as are necessary?' 

RULE I. INTERJECTIONS. 

Alas ! how is that rugged heart forlorn ! — Beattie. 

Behold the victor vanquish'd by the worm ! — Id. 

Bliss ! sublunary bliss ! — proud words, and vain ! — Young. 

RULE II. INVOCATIONS. 

Popular Applause ! what heart of man 

Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms? — Cowper. 

More than thy balm, Gilead ! heals the wound. — Young. 

RULE III. EXCLAMATORY QUESTIONS. 

How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green, 

Where humble happiness endear'd each scene ! — Golds. 

"What black despair, what horror, fills his heart! — Thomson. 
THE PARENTHESIS. 

4. " Copy the following sentences, and insert the paren- 
thesis, and such other points as are necessary." 

RULE I. INCIDENTAL CLAUSES. 

And all the question (wrangle e'er so long) 

Is only this, If God has plac'd him wrong. — Pope. 

And who what God foretels (who speaks in tilings 
Still louder than in words) shall dare deny ? 

RULE II. INCLUDED POINTS. 

Say, was it virtue, (more though Heav'n ne'er gave,) 
Lamented Digby ! sunk thee to the grave? — Pope. 
Where is that thrift, that avarice of time, 
(0 glorious av'rice !) thought of death inspires ? — Young, 



IN PROSODY. 43 

And, oh! the last! last! — what? (can words express, 
Thought reach ?) the last, last — silence of a friend ! — Id. 

EXERCISE VI.— PUNCTUATION. 

" Copy the following promiscuous sentences, and insert the 
points which they require." 

As one of them opened his sack, he espied his money. 

They cried out the more exceedingly, * Crucify him !' 

The soldiers' counsel was, to kill the prisoners. 

Great injury these vermin, mice and rats, do in the field. 

It is my son's coat ; an evil beast hath devoured him. 

Peace, of all worldly blessings, is the most valuable. 

By this time, the very foundation was removed. 

The only words he uttered, were, 'lama Roman citizen V 

Some distress, either felt or feared, gnaws like a worm. 

How, then, must I determine? — Havel no interest? — if I 

have not, I am stationed here to no purpose. 
In the fire, the destruction was so swift, sudden, vast, and 

miserable, as to have no parallel in story. 
Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, was far from being happy. 
I ask now, Verres, what thou hast to advance. 
Excess began, and sloth sustains, the trade. 
Fame can never reconcile a man to a death-bed. 
They that sail on the sea, tell of the danger. 
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. 
The storms of wint'ry time will quickly pass. 
Here Hope, that smiling angel, stands. 
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness. 
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith. 
True love strikes root in reason, passion's foe. 
Two gods divide them all — Pleasure and Gain. 
I am satisfied. My son has done his duty. 
Remember, Almet, the vision which thou hast seen. 
I beheld an enclosure beautiful as the gardens of paradise. 
The knowledge which I have received, I will communicate. 
But I am not yet happy ; and, therefore, I despair. 
Wretched mortals ! said I, to what purpose are you busy 1 
Bad as the world is, respect is always paid to virtue. 
In a word, he views men in the clear sunshine of charity. 
This being the case, I am astonished and amazed. 
These men approached him, and saluted him king. 
Excellent and obliging sages, these, undoubtedly ! 
Yet, at the same time, the man himself undergoes a change. 
One constant effect of idleness, is, to nourish the passions. 
You heroes regard nothing but glory. 



44 



KEY TO THE EXERCISES 



Take care, lest, while your strive to reach the top, you fall. 

Proud and presumptuous, they can brook no opposition. 

Nay, some awe of religion may still subsist. 

Then said he, « Lo, T come, to do thy will, God ! 

As for me, behold, I am in your hand. 

Now I Paul myself beseech you. 

He who lives always in public, cannot live to his own soul ; 

whereas, he who retires, remains calm. 
Therefore, behold ! I, even I, will utterly forget you. 
This text speaks only of those to whom it speaks. 
Yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, 'Aha, I am warm.' 
King Agrippa ! believest thou the prophets 1 

EXERCISE VII.— PUNCTUATION. 

" Copy the following promiscuous sentences, and insert the 
points which they require." 

To whom can riches give repute or trust, 

Content or pleasure, but the good and just? — Pope. 

To him, no high, no low, no great, no small ; 
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. — Id. 

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, 

Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence. — Id. 

Not so ; for, once indulg'd, they sweep the main, 
Deaf to the call, or, hearing, hear in vain. 

Say, will the falcon, stooping from above, 

Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove 1 — Pope. 

Throw Egypt's by, and offer in its stead — 
Offer — the crown on Berenice's head ! — Id. 

Falsely luxurious, will not man awake ; 

And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy 

The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour] — Thomson. 

Yet thus it is ; nor otherwise can be : 

So far from ought romantic what I sing. — Young. 

Thyself first know, then love : a self there is 
Of virtue fond, that kindles at her charms. — Id. 

How far that little candle throws his beams ! 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. — Shakspeare 

You have too much respect upon the world : 
They lose it, that do buy it with much care.— Id, 

How many things by season season'd are 

To their right praise and true perfection !— Id. 



IN PROSODY. 45 

Canst thou descend from converse with the skies, 

And seize thy brother's throat? — For what? — a clod? — Y. 

In two short precepts all your business lies : 

Would you be great ? — be virtuous, and be wise. — Denham. 

1 But sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed 1 — 
What then? — Is the reward of virtue bread? — Pope. 

A life of turbulence and noise, may seem 

To him that leads it, wise and to be prais'd ; 

But wisdom is a pearl, with most success 

Sought in still waters, and beneath clear skies. — Cowper. 

All but the swellings of the soften'd heart, 

That waken, not disturb, the tranquil mind. — Thomson. 

Inspiring God ! who (boundless spirit all 

And unremitting energy) pervades, 

Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole. — Id. 

Ye ladies ! (for indifFrent in your cause, 

I should deserve to forfeit all applause,) 

Whatever shocks, or gives the least offence 

To virtue, delicacy, truth, or sense, 

(Try the criterion, 'tis a faithful guide,) 

Nor has, nor can have, Scripture on its side. — Cowper. 

EXERCISE VIII— SCANNING. 

" Divide the following verses into the feet which compose them, 
and mark the long and the short syllables." 

1. DEITY. 

Alone | th6u sitst | above | the ev|erlast|ing hills, 
And all | immen|sity | of space | thy pres|ence fills: 

For thou | alone | art God | — as God | thy saints | adore | thee ; 

Jeho|vah is | thy name | — they have | no gods | before|thee. — Au. 

2. HEALTH. 

Up the | dewy | mountain, | Health is | bounding | lightly ; 

On her | brows a | garland | twin'd with | richest | posies : 
Gay is | she, e|late with | hope, and | smiling | sprightly; 

Redder | is her | cheek, and | sweeter | than the | rose is. — Au, 

3. IMPENITENCE. 

The impen|itent sin|ner whom mer|cy empowers, 
Dishonours that good|ness which seeks | to restore ; 

As the sands | of the des|ertare wa|ter'd by show|ers, 
Yet bar|ren and fruitless remain j as before. — Author, 



40 



KEY TO THE EXERCISES 



4. FIETY. 

Holy and | pure are the | pleasures of | piety, 
Drawn from the | fountain Of | merc^ and | love ; 

Endless, ex|haustless, exjempt from sa|tiety, 

Rising un | earthly, and | soaring a|bove. — Author. . 

5. A SIMILE. 

The bolt | that strikes | the tow|' ring ce|dardead, 
Oftpass|es harm|less o'er | the hajzel's head. — Author. 

AN OTHER. 

Yet to | their gen |'ral's voice | they soon | obey'd 

Innumerable. | As when | the po| tent rod 

Of Am | ram's son, | in E|gypt's e|vil day, 

Wav'd round | the coast, | up call'd | a pitch|y cloud 

Oflo|custs, warp|ing on | the east|ern wind, 

That o'er | the realm | of im| pious Pha|raoh hung 

Like night, | and dark |en'd all | the land | of Nile. — Milton. 

6. ELEGIAC STANZA. 

Thy name [ is dear | — 'tis vir|tue balm'd | in love ; 

Yet e'en | thy name | apen|sive sad|ness brings. 
Ah! wo | the day, | our hearts | weredoom'd | to prove, 

That fond|est love | but points | afHic|tion's stings ! — 'Author, 

7. CUPID. 

Zephyrs, | moving | bland, and | breathing | fragrant 
With the | sweetest | odours | of the | spring, 

O'er the | winged | boy, a [ thoughtless | vagrant, 

Slumb'ring | in the | grove, their | perfumes | fling. — Author. 

8. DIVINE POWER. 

When the winds | o'er Gennes|aret roar'd, 

And the bil|lows tremen|dously rose; 
The Sav|iour but ut|ter'd the word, 

They were hush'd | to the calm|est repose. — Author. 

9. INVITATION. 

Come frSm the" | mount of the | leopard, spouse, 

Come from the | den of the | lion ; 
Come to the | tent of thy | shepherd, spouse, 

Come to the | mountain of | Zion. — Author. 

10. ADMONITION. 

In the days | of thy youth, 

Remem|ber thy God : 
forsake | not his truth, 

Incur I not his rod. — Author, 



IN PROSODY. 47 

11. COMMENDATION. 

Constant and | duteous, 

Meek as the | dove, 
How art thou | beauteous, 

Daughter of | love ! — Author, 

EDWIN, AN ODE. 

I. STROPHE. 

Led by | the pow'r | of song, | and nature's love, 
Which raise | the soul J all vul|gar themes | above, 
The mountain grove 
Would Ed | win rove, 
In pen|sive mood, | alone ; 
And seek | the wood|y dell, 
Where noon | tide shad|ows fell, 
Cheering, 
Veering, 
Mov'd by | the zeph|yr's swell. 
Here nurs'd | he thoughts | to gen|ius 6n|ly known, 
When nought | was heard | around 
But sooth'd | the rest | profound 
Of ru|ral beau|tyon | her mountain throne. 

Nor less | he lov'd | (rude nature's child) 
The el|emen|tal con|flict wild ; 
W 7 hen, fold | on fold, | above | was pil'd 
The wa|t'ry swathe, | career|ing On | the wind. 
Such scenes | he saw 
With sol|emn awe, 
As in | the presence of | th' Eter[nal mind. 
Fix'd he | gaz'd, 
Tranc'd and | rais'd, 
Sublime[ly rapt | in aw|ful pleas|ure un|def in'd. 

II. ANTISTROPHE. 

Reckless | of dain|ty joys, | he finds | delight 
Where fee | bier souls | but trem|ble with | affright. 
Lo ! now, | within | the deep | ravine, 
A black | impend |Tng cloud 
Infolds | him in | its shroud ; 
And dark | and dark|er glooms | the scene. 
Through the | thicket | streaming, 
Lightnings | now are | gleaming ; 
Thunders I rolling | dread, 
Shake the | mountain's | head ; 
Nature's I war 






48 KEY TO THE EXERCISES IN PROSODY. 

Echoes I far, 
O'er e|ther borne. 
That flash 
The ash 
Has scath'd | and torn ! 
Now it | rages ; 
Oaks 6f | ages, 
Writhing | in the | furious | blast, 
Wide their | leafy | honours | cast; 
Their gnarl|ed arms | do force | to force | oppose : 
Deep root|ed In | the crev|ic'd rock, 
The stur|dy trunk | sustains | the shock, 
Like daunt|less he|ro firm | against | assailing foes. 

III. EPODE. 

' thou | who sitst | above | these va|pours dense, 
And rul'st | the storm | by thine | omnip|otence ! 
Making | the col | lied cloud | thy car, 
Coursing | the winds, | thou rid'st | afar, 

Thy bless |ings to | dispense. 
The ear|ly and | the lat|ter rain, 
Which ferjtilize | the dust|y plain, 

Thy boun|teous good|ness pours. 
Dumb be | the a|theist tongue | abhorr'd! 
All na|ture owns | thee sov| 'reign Lord ! 

And works | thy gra|cious will; 
At thy | command | the tern | pest roars, 
At thy | command | is still. 
Thy mer|cy o'er | this scene | sublime | presides ; 
'Tis mer|cy forms | the veil | that hides 

The ar|dent so|lar beam ; 
While, from | the voljlied breast | ofheav|en, 
Transient | gleams of | dazzling | light, 
Flashing | on the | balls of | sight, 
Make dark|ness dark|er seem. 
Thou mov'st | the quick | and sulphurous levjen — 
The tem|pest-driv|en 
Cloud | isriv|en ; 
And the | thirsty | mountain | side 
Drinks glad|ly of | the gush|ing tide.' 
Sobreath'd I youngEd|win, when | the sum|mer shower 



From out 
With light 



that dark | o'ercham|b'ring cloud, 
ning-flash | and thun|der loud, 



Burst in | wild gran |deur o'er | his solita|ry bower. — Author 

THE END. 



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